5 Reasons Local Journalism Is Important
Just like cash, local journalism is king.
In my motherland Cymru (Wales), we have a term, “milltir sgwâr” which translates into English as “square mile” but generally means the area which we physically and emotionally inhabit and spend most of our time. To me, this beautifully encapsulates local journalism and why it’s important. It means the coverage of where we spend each day.
We don’t live in a global community, we don’t live online (not physically at least) and we don’t even live in a ‘country’ per se. We live in small communities within our country, whether it’s a city, town, village, or neighborhood. Wherever you call home—that’s your square mile.
(Why I Don’t Maintain a Social Media Platform.)
We can’t enjoy a truly democratic society unless every government official from the White House down to the smallest town council is held accountable. And the best way to keep the powers that be in check is to report on everything they say and do. Every single one of them. This should be standard.
We’re constantly bombarded with national and international news. So where are we in terms of local journalism?
The outlook isn’t good for print media. Financial challenges, huge drops in circulation and the rise of digital news have caused the decline of print journalism, hitting local newspapers the hardest. This has created ‘news deserts’ all over the country, especially in rural areas. Research conducted by The Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media at the University of North Carolina School of Media and Journalism, shows nearly a quarter of the country’s local newspapers have disappeared since 2004.
This leaves millions of Americans with little or no access to adequate print coverage of their region. If they’re lucky, and the story’s big enough, some areas may catch the eye of national publications or TV news outlets—for a while at least. But most local issues require the thoroughness, understanding, and diligence only local, on-the-ground reporters are equipped to provide. The national media is astoundingly out of touch with Americans, with 1 in 5 newsroom employees based in New York, Los Angeles, or Washington, DC. To be fair, they cannot possibly cover every U.S. region, but at least some publications are reaching out to local journalists to file stories from their patch. Local radio and television journalists are still around but newsrooms in these industries have also suffered cutbacks.
Who then is holding local elected officials accountable? Who’s reporting from the state legislatures? Who’s covering all the town councils and court proceedings, school boards, and other public meetings?
(Citizen Journalism vs. Traditional Journalism.)
Political pundits, commentators, researchers, and media experts argue that the loss of local newspaper journalism leads to lack of civic engagement and a tendency to rely too heavily on a national media obsessed with divisive partisan politics. This is true, to an extent. But I think these experts underestimate ordinary people’s intelligence. Local digital journalism is gaining momentum and followers. Citizen journalists are quickly filling in the vacuum left by local newspapers and many former journalists are going solo on platforms like Substack. Local magazines seem to be doing okay and many of them cover important meetings, events, and issues.
Yes, newspapers are dying but that doesn’t mean local journalism is dead. On the contrary I think we’re seeing a resurgence—just in a different format. Good, objective, thorough reporting, however, takes time and money. You have to be there to accurately report an event. I don’t think the level and depth of digital journalism is comparable just yet, but there’s hope.
Local TV and radio news remains relatively strong, and although coverage doesn’t have the same down-to-earth community feel as a newspaper report, they’re vital resources all the same.
So enough said about the state of the industry. Let’s now look at some more reasons why local journalism is important.
1. Local Journalism Is a Great Training Ground for Rookies and Gives Local People a Voice!
I started out as a weekly newspaper reporter. It was a common training ground for newbies, and we learned practically everything on the job. After only one week in the main office, I was sent out into ‘the wilds’ to singlehandedly run a regional office covering a huge coastal and rural patch. I struggled at first but somehow managed to fill half a paper every week. That’s what they call baptism by fire.
Local journalism teaches the nitty gritty of journalism. We were not encased in an ivory tower like the opinion writers at the nationals, but rather we got down in the trenches and muddied our boots. We had to pound the streets and find the stories ourselves. And the most important skill was learning how to convince people to say things on record they didn’t necessarily want to say!
On the flip side, local people would come to me with their grievances and stories, and I always (gratefully) listened and pursued those leads.
So, not only are local people given a voice and a platform to ‘say their piece,’ but you, as a journalist or reporter, get to share important information that’s relevant to people who live in the community.
Later, as TV investigative journalists, part of our job every week was scanning all the local papers in Wales to find potential stories or leads. This is a common practice among national outlets and publications—and it’s just further proof of the immense importance of local journalism.
2. Local Journalism Encourages Civic Engagement
To function as a true democracy, we need to know what’s going on in government institutions on every level, not just on the national stage.
Which stories do you think matter most to an ordinary person: endless coverage about candidates of a general election more than a year in the future? Or discovering that a local developer just got planning permission to build condos on the beautiful green field next to their neighborhood?
We need reporters who know their patch and we need them present in every state capitol, in the local courtrooms, and covering every town council and school board meeting. This leads to an informed population who know what’s going on behind the scenes, what issues are being discussed, what candidates are running in each election, and what they represent.
I was 25 years old when I covered my first local council meeting. It was a big story involving planning permission for a grocery chain. I was completely lost, with no idea how things worked, and who did what. I looked over at a group of councilors, chose the one with the kindest face, and approached him. I told him I was new and asked him to kindly explain the process. He did, and he became my go-to contact. As a result, other councilors introduced themselves to me, and in no time, I knew them all, what they stood for, and how they voted. This was valuable information when I was figuring out who to approach for a quote later.
3. Local Journalism Covers Important and Relevant Regional News
It takes time for a journalist to foster, nurture, and maintain relationships with contacts and sources, and build their trust, especially in smaller communities where the everyday consequences of speaking out may be more immediate. To do this effectively it also helps if you live locally, know the area, and understand the issues that are important to residents.
We need ‘boots on the ground’ reporters who can find the stories people care about most. What are the issues that affect them and their families, their businesses, and/or employment? These are the immediate concerns of ordinary people, and they are not being adequately addressed or covered on a local level.
4. Local Journalism Provides a Strong Sense of Community
Have you ever been featured in the local paper (for only good reasons we hope!)? Did people in your community come up to you and say, ‘I saw you in the paper.’ Did you feel a sense of belonging? Camaraderie?
One of the best aspects of being a local reporter is writing about the residents. My features ranged from miracle babies to finding Boyo the Jack Russell a home.
Okay, I’ll tell you about Boyo. This was the proudest and most touching moment in my journalist career. I wrote a piece about an animal shelter and added a paragraph about Boyo, a little Jack Russell who needed a permanent home. The response was amazing, and a couple adopted him within days. I was close to tears when I wrote the follow-up article. Sometimes news is good!
I also wrote about having my tarot cards read by a local clairvoyant, who was at first hesitant of doing a feature because she thought the area was too religious and people would frown on her practices. But she was inundated with requests for readings after the piece was published, and everybody loved it. This proved her fears were unfounded and that the community was more open-minded and tolerant than she was led to believe.
This is local journalism in action.
5. Local Journalism Promotes Local Culture
Every August, Wales holds the National Eisteddfod (an annual competitive Welsh language cultural festival celebrating literature, music, dance, art, and craft work—a festival unique to Wales, complete with Druidic ceremonies (including stone circles) where bards and authors are honored and crowned—you really must watch these ceremonies to appreciate it!) You’ve probably never heard of it because for some reason it gets no coverage in the UK national media. And consequently, it gets no mention in the United States, other than specialist magazines or Welsh-oriented newsletters. If it wasn’t for our local, Welsh language broadcast media and regional newspapers, and of course, now online publications and social media groups, it would get no coverage at all. So, kudos to local journalists for keeping our culture and language alive.
In America, we live in a diverse, multicultural society and we need more stories that reflect the beauty of all our wonderful communities. We all live here together—in our square mile, so let’s share the limelight and get some more boots on the ground journalists qualified to do so, and I don’t mean academically. I mean people who know their communities well.
Journalism isn’t just about political candidates and government corruption, it’s about who we are as people. What do we do in our spare time? What is our area famous for? What’s the history? Where do we as locals like to spend our precious spare time and hard-earned money? Who are our local heroes? What’s the famous cuisine in the area? What are the kids up to? Is there a cultural or seasonal festival going on? If so, I want to know and so does everyone else. This is also local journalism, and this is the fun stuff. There’s nothing better as a reporter than interviewing people for a feature—one that brings hope, comfort, and joy to readers.
Digital journalism does provide this information through numerous publications, and local groups pop up all the time on social media. You just need to take the time to dig a little. Digital coverage can be a little scattered and what I do miss about local newspapers, is having all this information in one place. Maybe print newspapers will make a comeback or there will be a digital equivalent. We’ll see.
In the meantime, if we want the best for our communities, then we must insist that local journalism grows and thrives so we can ensure that each ‘square mile’ in the United States and beyond, gets the attention it truly deserves.
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Resources:
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Local-Journalism-in-Crisis.pdf